Showing obvious discomfort with the delicate issue, Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos did not begin hearings on a contentious bill aimed at illegal immigrants until yesterday, just three days before the 2011 Florida Legislative session's conclusion.
Last week Haridopolos pulled Miami state Senator Anitere Flores from leading the issue in the Senate, and handed it over to J.D. Alexander, the CEO of an agricultural company, to steer it through.
The move was initially interpreted as a way to make the bill tougher than Flores's proposal, and match it up with the more restrictive House version sponsored by Stuart Representative William Snyder, which rivaled Arizona's controversial SB 1070 legislation in terms of being tough on undocumented immigrants.
But a funny thing happened on the way to having that Senate bill get tougher.
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 4, 2011.